How was the management of Indonesian government scholarship funds during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Abstract

This study aims to find the difference management of scholarship funds by bidikmisi students between before and during the COVID-19 pandemic era and formulate suggested policy recommendations regarding the bidikmisi scholarship, also known as KIP-Kuliah funds awarding, management, and supervision. The design of this study is comparative quantitative with empirical research using the social-humanities approach. The literature study and questionnaire are used as data collection techniques in this study. The study population is bidikmisi students in State University of Malang year 2018. The sampling was proceed using a simple random sampling technique. The T-test analysis result showed 0.003<0.05, which means there is a difference bidikmisi scholarship funds management between before and during the pandemic. At first, the bidikmisi funds were allocated for school needs, but now it had been switched to fulfill other than school needs, such as family needs. These analysis results showed there had been a change of outcome lists in managing bidikmisi funds management. During the pandemic, the number of students who did saving has increased. The debt management indicator does not change because students' needs have been fulfilled through the re-allocation of bidikmisi funds. Lastly, it can be concluded that there is a priority change in the utilization of bidikmisi scholarship funds between before and during the pandemic.